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The Sisters: 3/5

everything that happens is absolutely horrifically devastating in multiple ways but put together so well

the song parts... I'm fighting for my life

incredible as an audio experience— two RICH worlds/times with characters that breathe in poetry and sharp reality all at once. already it feels as if I have been through so many stories and lives. this is what I love in literature, an epic, the legacy of family lines.

no more period dramas with colourblind casting when pedro alvarez, walter annerby, john blanke, catalina & so many others were RIGHT THERE in the 15th/16th/17th century!!

actually obsessed with the way that modern inventions are spoken about as if they are animals— the whole segment on the motorcar being a beastly creature powered by hobbgoblins, fantastic stuff

there's something so crazy about seeing someone for 1 minute in a church, walking to her house, convincing a child to be your messenger & then starting a letter with; "since i saw you walk down the aisle of letterlee church yesterday, i shall never again know peace of mind until you allow me to speak to you. i want to tell you that, even if you never speak to me, I love you and shall love you to the end of time" but!

half the fun of this book is knowing that it is actually a thinly veiled memoir (written under a pseudonym with countless name changes for key characters) set in the village where I was raised. already, the world it describes of rural ireland in the 19th and early 20th centuries feels utterly like home & particularly reminds me of my grandparents (this book having decorated their shelves for my entire life) <3

i expected to know a bit more about this section of his life — late 30s early 40s is my favourite part of his filmography, but?! the intersection of wartime politics & cinema was a welcome surprise, cecil b demille working for the fbi?! & cary among others feeding info back to london via mi6 instead? and all among morale boost attempts, propaganda & fundraising, hollywood always hollywooding i guess

one thing that is disappointing about classics like this is how the blurb just tells the entire plot of the book as if those things happen earlier in the story than they actually do— finally however, I have reached the point that it is all about and I love the way that the missionaries arrival is explained and viewed. now that the traditional world has been established the colonial one is super sharp contrast

I really like Eyman's approach where he properly searches for & cites evidence from contemporary sources (in DETAIL), contextualises them & balances the opinions of cary's friends & enemies against one another in a way that a biographer truly should, creating a full account of a person rather than sensation or agenda— yet he comes to his own conclusions too

the folktales of Tortoise being greedy and getting punished by the birds, and Mosquito having an unrequited romance for Ear add something so interesting to the central plot and do much to bring the worldview of the characters to life— also loved the idea that white people don't have toes

from ultra-humble begins in a cold and troubled household, archie leech takes vaudeville by storm until hollywood calls and he invents cary grant.

off to a strong start with a reflective prologue that starts at the end, a detailed and somehow still brief account of a dark childhood and now the table set for action to begin

pg 68 august 2022

5h 34m l